FEBRUARY
To say that a lot happened this month might be an understatement. Every time I look at the calendar I was baffled that it was still February!
Kelsey's boyfriend Jak came to visit for a few weeks. For his birthday Kelsey, myself and our friends Domonique and Daniel all pitched in and surprised Jak with a roundtrip ticket to the city. Needless to say his genuiene shock and appreciativeness made it totally worth while :)
Master Shakespeare in Central Park.
We ate at a restaurant called S'MAC. Yes. They only serve mac n cheese. Mama Michaels' is better :)
Baby cannoli from Veniero's Bakery. Oh my god yum!
While he was here we saw WAR HORSE, the play NOT the movie. OH. MY. GOD. Don't even bother seeing the movie! Just book a plane ticket out here, you can crash on my futon the show is THAT amazing. If I didn't already know that I wanted to spend my life being a theatre artist, this play would have made me switch career paths. You forget that the horses are puppets and with a fairly minimal set you are completely transported to WWI. AH-MAH-ZING!!!
Domonique and I got our library cards at the beginning of the month. Now, I know this makes me sound like a huge nerd, but, I love the New York Public Library. Not only are there a TON of locations (including one completely dedicated to the performing arts) but they also have a ton of online material, ebooks, music, movies... the list is endless. I love it! I must say though, every time I'm in the reading room at the main library I keep hoping that improv everywhere will have the ghost busters chasing ghosts through it. Check it! That gets a little distracting.
On the work front: I have cut back my hours demoing for Zola to just the weekends. I would have to work more hours that anyone would want to demo for every day, all week to even come close to making ends meet. This cut back in hours has openned me up to WAY more temp work. Oh, did I mention I've joined a temp agency? I have. It's been pretty awesome so far. My agent is a Gaucho Alumna as well and loves that my schedule is so flexible. This week in particular, most of the jobs have come around because of last minute phone calls, and thats fine by me as long as they keep calling! haha I have worked reception for a couple places (a publishing company and a high power financial group - I like the publishing company better) and have helped with a few mailings/filings for other companies. I have also been sent on a number of interviews for temp-to-perm positions, though none of them have worked out. I suspect my total lack of office jobs is to blame, though I am great with customers and learn quickly. I'm hoping the longer I temp as a receptionist the most desireable I will become to these employers.
"Now, what about acting?" I get asked this a lot. At this point, here is how I am looking at it: if I am going to stay in this city I need to be able to support myself/save money. I have no serving experience so forget about trying to be a waitress in this city. Its a pretty serious profession and you can make BANK. And the whole coffee shop would be great if they paid more... So office work it is. All of the acting I would even have a shot at doing would have to happen after hours/on the weekends. Which is fine by me for now :)
That brings me to auditions!! I finally got one!! Two actually :) One was earlier this month for "My Celebrity Ghost Story" on the Biography Channel. They do re-enactments of B and C list celebrities' paranormal encounters. I think it was one of the easiest auditions I've ever done. It was just the casting director in the room with a video camera, she took a few headshots and bodyshots, then had me slate (say my name). She asked me if I spoke any French, I told her very poorly but I could do the accent. "Good enough" she said. She then had me play a friendly French ghost who comes into this guy's hospital room and heals him. Saying relax, you're going to be ok, and then leaves. Awesome. Then she had me play a woman who has been hearing strange noises in her livingroom and goes to investigate, she then proceeds to freak out when she sees the ghost. So I cautiously entered the room and when she threw her hand up I freaked out.
Easy as pie. I could hear from them anytime between now and the middle of March.
The other was for the Moose Head Theater Company here in the city. They put on the Inwood Shakespeare Festival every summer at Inwood Park (the very most northern tip of Manhattan). They are doing 'As You Like It' and a new play called 'The Golem.' I was called in to audition for both! Looking back on this audition I realize how nervous I was, and should have relaxed more. Breathing might have been good.... I did not get called back for 'As You Like It' and I'm pretty sure I won't get one for 'The Golem.' Next year....
My friend Nico flew out for a very quick trip. He was called back to Columbia! Kelsey and I got to hang out with him for a bit which was a lot of fun!
MARCH
March has flown by faster than any other month. I cannot believe it's almost over! And it's also kind of been a month of firsts, which has been incredibly exciting. So, March pretty much rocked! Here's why:
While working has been a little stressful, my theatrical life has been kick started.
I got to be in a theater. And it felt so damn good!! I guess technically this happened at the very end of February but it was awesome so I'm letting March have it. I got a call from my friend Daniel, who is doing an internship with The Ensemble Studio Theater. They needed someone to run a sound and lights board for a reading that evening and Daniel kindly thought of me. I was working with a very simple set up, and was nervous I was going to royally mess something up, but I didn't. And they liked me!! Yay connections!! First Tech gig in NY! Check.
I also had the opportunity to be in a reading of a one act play :) Charlie, one of Kelsey's classmates who is in the directing program, called me up one afternoon and offered me a part in a little reading he was directing. So of course I accepted. Duh. He emailed me the script which was written by Sam Byron, another one of Kelsey's classmates - in the playwriting program. It's about a woman who leaves her baby twins with the nanny who barely speaks English. It sounds terrible, but they play is freaking hilarious!! We had one rehearsal the day of the reading where I read with Sam and Charlie, and another read through with Sam and Natalie (the other actress) right before the show. It was part of a show called Peculiar Streams and is essentially a variety hour. SO much fun! It took place in the back room of a bar in the East Village and was a really good time. I suppose technically this was my NYC debut, but I'll actually count it when my show goes up. That's right, I got cast in a show!! But I'll get to that in a second.
Jak (Kelsey's boyfriend) and our good friends Allie, Brian, and Eddy were in the city for grad school call backs! Jak and Allie for the New School, Brian and Eddy for NYU. Yes, my friends are ballers. The Sunday that they were all here, I had an audition for Haberdasher Theater Company's production of the Wizard of Oz. Now, anyone who knows me pretty well knows that the Wizard of Oz is not my favorite show (one incredibly traumatic experience will do that to a show) BUT this was not the musical version AND they were setting it in modern day Manhattan. Awesome. So I go to the audition and am SUPER relaxed and totally rock it. I found some new moments in monologues I've been doing for years and just felt great about it. After my audition I met up with Brian and Eddy and we went to 5 Guys. OH MY GOD BEST BURGERS EVER!!!! While at dinner I got a call from a number I didn't know, so I let it go to voicemail and they left a message. Turns out I got a callback for OZ! Guess I should answer more numbers I don't know... Exciting! The boys and I headed back to the apartment and watched 'The Help.' It wasn't as good as the first time I saw it.... Anyway, it was so nice hanging out with friends in this city. It felt like home :) First callback: CHECK! First 5 Guys burger: CHECK! Awesome day!
My friend Dom is awesome. We are each other's cheerleaders out here and man is she a good one! I had been talking to here about the job situation and she mentioned that the reception position at Vera Wang Bridal Salon might still be open and that I'd be perfect for the job. She had temped there for a week and they wanted to hire her but for whatever reason she declined. So she sent them an email and they got back to me to set up an interview right away! So I went to the corporate office and met with someone in their HR department for an initial interview. She then sent me to the salon, where I sat for a while and then was taken up to the show room. Oh man those dresses are gorgeous! I felt pretty good about my interview but was also thinking about the call backs I had that evening. I got a call from the woman in HR a few hours later, they offered me a 3 day trial period! I start on Friday!!!
The callback was a lot of fun! I stayed the whole time and read pretty much every role they had, which was cool. Not only did we read scenes but we also did a lot of improv work which was excellent! I left the callback feeling great. It was hard to go to sleep that night haha
The next day I had the awesome opportunity to be a reader for some EPAs (Equity Principal Auditions) at EST. Being a reader means you sit just in front and off to the side of the table that the casting director sits at and you are the scene partner for the actors auditioning. Now, this was pretty funny and threw some of the actors: I was mainly reading the part of a black 65 year old ex-NFL player. Clearly I would NEVER get cast in that role. But I was surprised at how much I could relate to this character. It was an incredible opportunity and I learned SO much from it. I really hope they call me to be a reader again :)
Then I flew home :) Michaela, one of my co-workers from Anna's who I became pretty good friends with, got married on St. Patrick's Day. She's the first of my friends to get married and I had to be there for it! It felt so great going home to SB on such a high from the week leading up to it. I got some doctors appointments out of the way, ate at some of my favorite places, but spent most of my time hanging with my family and the puppies :) While I was home I found out that I was cast in The Wizard of Oz (as the Pissed Off Tree, the Gatekeeper, and the Wicked Witch of the East)!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO EXCITING!!!!!!! I kid you not I started crying when I got off the phone with the director. I was so freaking happy!!! I also found out that I had been cast in one of the Celebrity Ghost Story episodes!!!!!!! I film that next Thursday :) Things are slowly but surely starting to happen!!! Patience really is a virtue.
I spent most of the week with my family, my puppies, and was able to see a lot of friends :) It was a great way to recharge.
They came to pick me up at the airport :)
i just love this chair. its so comfy.
While I was home, Logan and 2 of his good friends competed in the Grease Pole at DP. They rocked it!
I brought Mama Michaels as my date to Michaela and Aaron's wedding. The decorations were very simple but beautiful. Michaela was STUNNING in her dress and Aaron was beaming. The whole room was filled with so much love. It was magical :)
Reunited :)
She's married!!
Adorable!
So now I'm back in NY, and wondering what the hell is going on with the weather. I was expecting extremely cold weather this winter. We've had 3 snow days. And now that it's spring, it's in the mid to high 70s. At leasts the flowers are blooming.
Happy Spring y'all!!
